Painter’s Vision 7: Passion

"Welcome to the Lound Manor."

The mansion was grand, resembling a palace made of black stone—covered in vines and moss that greatly accentuated the exterior.

Inside, however, past the heavy door, they walked through the long, dim corridor, where the faint smell of oil paint and old varnish tickled their nostrils.

The soft glow of antique lamps cast shadows dancing across the canvases adorning the vast walls.

Every portrait told its own story, whether it was a tired old lady holding a green apple or a young, lively man with a big, white smile.

It added layers of depth to the surroundings, where creativity and elegance coexisted in every corner, giving soul to an otherwise lonely building.

"Isn't this house wonderful?"

Roberta cooed, proud of her luxurious property. While her fingers traveled along the wall's surface, her open arms showed off the marvelous inner decorations.

Inase whistled.

"Indeed. It's an amazing building. I could only dream about living here."

And Hosen only nodded, glancing here and there at the mansion's details.

The long hallway guided them past many rooms with open entryways, where her art collection hung on display, showing off its vibrant colors.

The two glanced past it with an awed gasp.

Some of her early works—from landscapes and still lifes, whether done in watercolor or oil—told the story of her life. All of the memories she had preserved with a brush unfolded before their eyes.

But,

As they continued, the paintings grew more abstract, the colors bolder, and the forms more fantastical—as if her imagination had taken full flight, leaving behind the world she once knew.

And finally, the corridor opened to a spacious hall full of sculptures and gigantic art pieces, with small ones filling the empty spaces in-between.

Like a slow descent to madness, the creatures she portrayed were grotesque, surreal, of another dimension, yet the aquatic creatures she depicted were ethereally alluring; all gave the illusion of coming to life at any moment.

"You painted all of this yourself?"

Inase walked up to some of the larger pieces to see the scale of it all. She must have worked on it for weeks using a ladder or something of the sort to keep her up in the air.

"Yes!" Sparks of excitement adorned her cheerful countenance.

That was it, the paintings. They might have found what they were looking for.

"These are some works of otherworldly beauty," Hosen asked, scanning the room. "How do you get inspiration for all of this, Miss Lound?"

"You can call me Roberta," the young woman smiled, "They come to me at night."

"?"

Seeing their confused yet synchronized head tilt, she couldn't help but let out a chuckle.

"From my dreams." She further clarified. "All of these creatures appear in my dreams, and so, I am able to color them onto a canvas in the morning. The more I have, the more inspiration I get."

And it was visible—every single one of the pieces was more striking than the last. Especially after she had focused on her latest additions—the sea creatures.

"I was an insomniac before." Roberta continued, adding context. "I couldn't get a wink of sleep my entire life. I don't know why. My mind often went places it never shouldn't have; it made me overthink, worry too much about almost anything…"

She smiled sadly, reminding herself of countless sleepless nights.

"But now, thanks to these dreams, I can sleep soundly."

"These are pretty creepy things to sleep to."

In response to that insensitive comment, Hosen discreetly nudged Inase's shoulder, making sure Roberta didn't notice.

"You think so? Well, on the contrary, they might look odd to the outsiders, but I feel like they are here to protect me."

Her eyes scanned each piece, feeling proud of what she could create. For her, in that distant picture of imagination, the seas, the unknown dimensions, or the surreal landscapes held a warmth that soothed her anxious spirit.

"They'd never harm me, is what I feel."

An unusual thing to say when she was surrounded by bizarre pictures, but sure.

"I see."

Hosen nodded in understanding. Indeed, her works were odd yet very beautiful. None would have walked past them without casting a glance when intrigue sparked an urge to uncover the origins behind it.

"You don't mind if we get a closer look at these… Do you?"

"Oh, no. Please, be my guest."

They were free to look around however long they wanted.

So, the two took a closer glance at every inch of every painting as the girl continued glazing about her life of an artist.

"I love what I do. It enables me to bring anything from my mind to reality and show it to the world, like it's an adventure into the unknown. Trust the process and let my hand do whatever it pleases with a brush in my fingers."

She laughed when Inase tried to mimic the pose in one of her works.

"It's silly, really, how much I fell in love with it." It has been the greatest pleasure in her life. "There's a certain magic in creating something from nothing."

"Mind if you show us your work process?"

Hosen was yearning to discover more, with a dangerous spark in his eye that betrayed his scientific curiosity.

"Of course!"

She'd be more than delighted to.

"Please, follow me. All of the finished work is already hung up, but there was a piece I have been working on lately…"

Thus, Roberta guided them through a corridor on the first floor, where they passed her king-sized bedroom—they could peek inside, thanks to the door left slightly ajar.

A few doors later, they were allowed through a double-winged door into her workshop.

It was a room filled with unfinished paintings and blank canvases; some were stacked on top of one another, and some were resting or leaning against the walls and tables. Some canvases were unfinished, others barely touched, all waiting for the artist's next move. 

The room, even though it was clamped with artistic equipment, was large enough to leave a bit of open space for walking through the center.

"Okay, here I go."

The girl stood before the easel and put one of the unfinished canvases on top. Her eyes lit with passion in contrast to her soft mannerism, and her voice tinged with excitement, making the brush sway with her well-practiced movements.

"This exact moment means everything to me."

She hummed, brushing a streak of deep color across the fabric, mid-painting in a silhouette basking against the red sunset over the horizon—the shaded figure of a black-haired woman in a red dress. On her finger rested a crimson butterfly of unsettling shape, which brought a tinge of unease.

"It's how I express what words can't, how I pour my soul into something real. Every stroke feels like a part of me coming to life, or like my emotions are turned into something breathtaking from nothing."

The gentle smile on her face revealed the deep passion and how much she cherished it.

The process of creating art pieces transformed her into a nurturing woman, resembling a mother tending to her newborn.

But that passion of hers had possibly changed the paths of what she was creating.

"Have you stopped drawing portraits?"

Hosen asked, noticing that pattern.

"Oh, no. I just paint them now in a different way. Not how I see a person, but how… I feel them, in my mind." Roberta explained. "If you don't mind, I can show."

She gestured for one of them to sit on the chair, eager to hold a brush in her fingers again.

The two nodded.

"Uh, yeah. Sure, why not?"

A knowing glance at each other after, they played rock paper scissors to determine who should sit up front, and Hosen was the one to lose, of course.

He silently shook his head, not wanting to go, but Inase stood strong, pushing the guy forward if needed.

So, a bit salty, he sat motionlessly on the pouf situated before an easel, ready to be put on Roberta's new canvas.

The painter took a stand before the canvas, brush in hand and palette in other.

As though she channeled an otherworldly connection to her work, her fingers moved on their own with fluid precision and a balance of impulsive yet careful intention.

Roberta was in a trance, fully focused on the one sitting ahead.

The bristles glided across the surface, leaving trails of vibrant color. With each flick and sweep, the image in her mind took shape, the rhythm of her movements breathing life onto the surface.

"You have beautiful eyes." She commented while adding in more details.

Eyes? But he had an eyepatch—she could only see his left eye, right?

"Thank you." Nevertheless, Hosen took the compliment with confidence.

"Don't move. Just a little more…" Pressing her lips together in high concentration, she finally applied the final touches. "And… done!"

The moment her brush left the canvas, both men jumped to their feet to approach her new creation.

Once they leaned in, their eyes met something beyond their expectations.

In it, Hosen's white figure was touched by the very fabric of otherworldly essence.

He was enveloped by swirling cosmic shades of obscure pinks and purples while drowning in an endless void.

The darkness consumed him as if he was both part of and trapped in the vast, cosmic abyss—his final form turned to a haunting blend of humanity and something far more alien.

While sitting still, the black tentacles were coming out of his cracked skin, similar to a broken porcelain doll. It added dynamics to the overall composition.

His eyepatch was gone, exposing the unsettling remnants of his face.

Furthermore, his entire body was covered in bulging eyes of varying sizes, each with multiple fragmented irises, a rare case of polycoria that was intended—not caused due to genetics, but something else entirely.

Overall, it sent a chill down the spine of anyone who dared to gaze upon it.

"That is definitely… a piece."

Something that Inase least expected from a simple portrait.

As mentioned in the past, he was not an art person—he didn't understand much of what was being told through this composition.

"How abstract."

Hosen didn't think much of it either, but the way she depicted him ignited a spark of intrigue within.

"Isn't it?"

Even though she knew it wasn't probable for anything like such to happen—that he was just a normal human being—her unrestrained creativity had shown Hosen in such a strange light, coated in the mysterious eldritch influence.

If anyone else had the opportunity to see this, they would think it was the creation of a madwoman.

"Oh, I could've added more details, but since we didn't have a lot of time before the sun disappeared behind the horizon, I could only do this much."

She admitted with a slightly disappointed tone.

"If I could do more, I would have added some texture to his figure, maybe reshaped the eyes so that they wouldn't seem the same, refined the background colors so that they would look like they are moving, and…"

…so on, and so on. Roberta could talk about it for hours on end.

Witnessing her wild imagination made Inase snicker. It let him wonder what she would have painted if he was the one sitting on the pouf instead.

Would he be turned into a monstrosity with many hands, or a big mouth with teeth, or maybe… a gooey, slimy blob with no shape nor facial features that would only live by eating dirt? Who knows… but the outcome would be entertaining.

"You're enjoying it a lot."

"Of course." At last, Miss Roberta answered with a bright smile. "It's my whole life!"